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Carme Forcadell, the President of the Catalan Parliament, will testify before the High Court of Catalonia (TSJC) for allowing a debate in the plenary about an independence resolution. She is accused of disobedience for not stopping the discussion, which was suspended by the Constitutional Court after a Spanish government complaint. The High Court has also asked four members of the Catalan Parliament Bureau to testify: Anna Simó, Lluís Corominas, Ramona Barrufet and Joan Josep Nuet. Simó, from Catalan Republican Left (ERC) will testify the same day as Forcadell, while Corominas and Ramona Barrufet, MPs from the liberal PDeCAT party, will face the court on May 12. Nuet, from left-wing coalition CSQP, and who was initially not included in the investigation, will finally testify as well on May 23. “We have always worked to facilitate debates, not stop them, because words should be free in the Parliament. We will continue in this fashion,” tweeted Forcadell alongside a picture of her citation letter.

The Spanish Constitutional Court officially notified the Catalan Government about the suspension of the referendum allocations in the 2017 budget on Tuesday. The Court warned the Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and all the members of his government about the criminal consequences of disobeying the suspension. “We will keep going,” responded Puigdemont in a tweet, which included a picture of the five Court notifications that he has received so far against the plans for a referendum. The Catalan Government spokeswoman, Neus Munté, confirmed that the executive will appeal the suspension on the grounds that the organization of “electoral and participatory processes” is a competence “recognized” by the Catalan Statute, the organic law that defines the powers of the Catalan government.

Spain's Supreme Court dismissed Francesc Hom's appeal on Thursday to the sentence which banned him from holding political office for having allowed a symbolic vote on independence in 2014. Homs was former Catalan President Artur Mas’right-hand man. Homs, who was an MP for Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT) in the Spanish Parliament at the time of the sentence had to leave his seat last week after the court banned him from holding public office for a period of 18 months. The magistrates have now added that he can’t stand for the European Parliament either, since the ban “applies to all areas”. Former Catalan President, Artur Mas and former Catalan Ministers Irene Rigau and Joana Ortega were also fined and banned from public office for the same case, which is regarded as a political action against Catalonia’s pro-independence aspirations.  

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) accepted this Tuesday the suit presented by the Spanish Government which claimed that those line items in the 2017 Catalan budget oriented toward calling a referendum this September were illegal. The magistrates, which met in an extraordinary session to address only this matter, unanimously agreed to suspend these budget items for a period of 5 months, which could be extended if necessary. Rajoy’s Executive also wants Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, and the other members of the Catalan Government to be personally notified of the suspension as well as the penal consequences of ignoring it. In particular, the TC suspended two line items: one establishes €5 million for electoral processes and €0.8 million for participation and the other refers to the possibility of calling a referendum with or without the Spanish State's permission.

The Catalan budget for 2017, which includes an allocation of €5.8 million to carry out the referendum on independence which the Government committed to call next September, has been taken before the court. The Parliament’s legal services already warned on the day the bill was passed that by doing so the chamber could be ignoring the TC. Indeed, the Spanish body called to impede or block any initiative emerged from the pro-independence declaration of the 9-N, which was already suspended.  The pro-independence parties in the Parliament, governing cross-party ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left CUP backed the bill, which besides considering the referendum, it allocates €17.8 billion to social expenditure. The main parties in the opposition, Spanish Unionist Ciutadans, Catalan People’s Party (PP) and Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) announced this Friday that they will join the Spanish Government’s initiative and present an appeal to the bill.

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) one of the legal bodies responsible for suspending the most initiatives aimed at executing Catalonia’s pro-independence roadmap in the last few years, replaced its president this Wednesday. Francisco Pérez de los Cobos stepped down after nearly four years in office and took the opportunity to call for “political dialogue” . He defended Spain’s unity but admitted that the Spanish Constitution “can’t tackle all the problems derived from the constitutional order, especially those which emerge from the desire of one part of the state to alter its legal status”.  In the presence of the Spanish Minister for Justice, Rafael Català and the four magistrates which took office this Wednesday, Pérez de los Cobos emphasized that dialogue is an “urgent and unavoidable necessity”.

The judicial process against Catalan politicians that helped to organise the non-binding consultation on independence on the 9th of November 2014 continues. This Monday, former Catalan Government spokesman and MP for the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDCeCAT) testifies before the Spanish Supreme Court for disobedience and perversion of justice when co-organising the 9-N symbolic vote on independence, in which 2.3 million citizens expressed their opinion about Catalonia’s political future. The Prosecutor’s temporary conclusions stated that Homs “didn’t suspend any of the articles which allowed the consultation to take place and which were accountable to the Department of the Presidency” which Homs led at that time. The document emphasises that former Catalan President, Artur Mas’ right-hand man was “absolutely aware” that “by doing so he violated the mandatory compliance of the Spanish Constitutional Court’s decisions”. Thus, the Prosecutor demands a 9-year ban from public office.

Palma de Mallorca’s court sentenced Philip VI’s brother-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarin, for allegedly obtaining no-bid contracts from regional governments in the so-called ‘Nóos Case’. On the other hand, his wife, the sister of Spain’s King, Cristina de Borbón, has been acquitted of tax fraud complicity. However, she will have to pay a 265,000-euros fine for her role in the case. Former president of the Balearic Islands, Jaume Matas, who had held 50% of the shares of the company ‘Nóos’, has been sentenced to three years and eight months in prison while Urdangarin’s partner in the company will have to face an 8-year prison sentence. The trial, which generated huge attention from the media, saw a member of the Royal Family brought to court for the first time ever.  

The commitment taken by Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, to call a referendum in autumn 2017, regardless of the Spanish Government’s position, has been definitely suspended by the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC). Although the body had already ordered a cautionary suspension of the governing party ‘Junts Pel Sí’ and radical left pro-independence CUP joint proposal on this matter, this Tuesday the resolution became definite. “No court decision will change our unequivocal determination to call a referendum this year”, stated Catalan Government Spokeswoman, Neus Munté. She also emphasised that the joint resolution emerged from the democratic mandate of the 27-S Catalan elections. The magistrates also left in the Public Prosecutor’s hands whether to take further legal action against Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell, who already testified before Barcelona’s High Court in December for allowing the pro-independence roadmap to be put to vote amongst the Catalan MPs.

The last day of the 9-N trial over the symbolic vote on independence, which took place in 2014, saw the Public Prosecutor, Emilio Sánchez-Ulled’s conclusions. “It is enough of what has been organised around this”, stated Sánchez-Ulled and denied having been put under any pressure by the Spanish Government, as many who consider this trial a political one have repeatedly claimed. “I haven’t received any order [from the Spanish Government], believe it or not”, he said in a firm tone and added that he “wouldn’t have consented to it”. “If you believe it or not I don’t really care”, he added. “This trial is also democracy because democracy includes many more things than those explained here”, he added.

Former Catalan Minister for Presidency and now Catalan European Democratic Party (PDCeCAT) spokesperson in the Spanish Parliament, Francesc Homs, testified this Wednesday before Barcelona’s High Court, during the trial over the 9-N symbolic vote on independence. Homs, who was former Catalan President Artur Mas’ right hand man at the time when the non-binding consultation took place, in 2014, gave his testimony as witness. “I told the Government that we were not violating any law and even less the penal code”, Homs stated and pointed out that the Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) resolution wasn’t clear. Coinciding with his declaration, this Wednesday it was made public that Homs will have to appear before the Spanish Supreme Court on the 27th of February, accused of disobedience and perversion of justice when co-organising the 9-N.

Former Catalan President, Artur Mas, will have to testify before Barcelona’s High Court on Monday along with former vice-president Joana Ortega and former education minister Irene Rigau for allowing the 9-N symbolic vote on independence in 2014. In several appearances before the press this past Sunday, Mas insisted that he has “nothing to apologise for” and that the three whom have been summonsed face the trial “calmly and in good spirit” but also “moved and grateful for the people’s support”. “They wanted us on our knees, but they will find us standing”, he said. “It is a shameful trial, it is absolutely against democracy”, he said and pointed out that the “success of the 9-N and its high turnout” is what drove the case to the court. Mas, Ortega and Rigau are accused of criminal disobedience and breach of trust for holding the non-binding referendum and could receive a 10-year ban on holding public office if convicted.

The judicial process against Catalan politicians that helped to organise the non-binding consultation on independence on the 9th of November 2014 continues. The former Catalan Government spokesman and MP for the Catalan European Democratic Party (PDECAT) will definitely face trial after Spanish Supreme Court judge Andrés Palomo del Arco decided on Friday to start an oral case against him for alleged disobedience and administrative perversion. The Spanish public prosecutor wants Homs banned from office for a period of 9 years. The judge describes in his decision the events presented by the prosecution and says that they justify the start of trial. Former Catalan President Artur Mas, former Vicepresident Joana Ortega and former minister Irene Rigau are also facing trial for the same reason, although their case is being heard in the Catalan Supreme Court. Homs is facing the Spanish Supreme Court because he is currently a member of the Spanish Congress

“Tactfully, intelligently and with an open mind”. This is how German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the German institutions would react if they have to face a political conflict such as the Catalan one, according to the Secretary General of the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (Diplocat), Albert Royo. During a conference in the Bavarian city of Augsburg, in Germany, Royo said that Berlin’s attitude would be “different” to Madrid’s. Although the German Constitutional Court said recently that Bavaria does not have the right to hold an independence referendum, Royo argued the attitude would change if pro-independence forces in this bundesland were as big as they are in Catalonia. “In Bavaria the self-determination party represents 2% of Bavarians, and has no members of Parliament. The Catalan situation is completely different. 80% of Catalans want an independence referendum and there is an independence majority in Parliament”, he pointed out. “Merkel would have dealt with a situation like this one in a different way from the Spanish government”, he added.

The Spanish Constitutional Court (TC) carried out this Wednesday its usual procedure and hand delivered the resolution notice which warns the Catalan executive of the criminal liability of launching the referendum plan. The document emphasised the magistrates’ duty to “impede or block” any initiative aimed at ignoring the TC suspension of the Government’s plan to call a referendum in Catalonia in September 2017. The notice warns Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, Catalan Vice President and Minister for Economy and Tax Office, Oriol Junqueras, along with the members in the Catalan executive of the “eventual charges” which they may face. On Tuesday, the Parliament’s President, Carme Forcadell, and the members of the Parliament’s Bureau also received the same notice, which was hand delivered by judicial secretaries from Catalonia’s Supreme Court.